The Darkest Hour
by Ultima66
Summary: A very dark story involving the killing of the characters of ToP. I wasn't sure if I wanted to submit it for a while, since it's sadistic... Rated T for a lot of blood and some language. It is officially DONE, with 6 chapters.
1. Prologue

The Darkest Hour

By Ultima66

Prologue

I raised up my knife to my chest. It was time for me to leave this world. My own soul ravaged me, and I knew that there was nothing left of my life worth staying alive for. Far too many crimes have I committed in the past, and now that I finally realize that there is indeed good in my heart, I realized that the best thing left for me to do is put an end to the evil by freeing myself to this lonely world.

I stuck the knife in. I felt the cold blade inside me, and then felt pain more than anything I could have imagined I caused so many other people. My mind drifted away, almost like it was trying to escape the pain, but to no avail. Hot blood flowed all over my hands, and I felt faint. Everything then turned white, and up until now, I have no clue what happened.

To be perfectly honest, I have no clue what I am doing even now. I feel no more hatred or resentment, so I am sure that the pure evil part of my soul has finally left me. Then again, so has everything else. I am here to tell my tale, and that is all I have left to offer; far more than anything I could have offered anytime in the past at least.

They say that everyone is born with innocence. I feel otherwise, because I know as a fact that I have never had any innocence, at least not up until the point where I heard those fateful words that tormented me for days, before I finally gave in and freed myself from the world. I was a mage, and a swordsman. I have no true name, I was simply a mercenary to myself. I suppose you could have called me a specter, living my life over no real purpose but to plague others. My life consisted of following and killing people that I decided were for me to murder. I felt no reasoning behind any of it; I simply followed the evil heart that had plagued me and the world. You may ask how I felt nothing through all of this, but even I cannot answer that. As I have said, the evil that plagued my heart was something so dark there was nothing that could overcome it, at least that is how it was up until I the young girl's words were spoken, who I then killed.

Indeed I was powerful, but it meant nothing to me. I could have done so much with my abilities. I could even time travel. Instead I let it all go to waste over my bloodlust. A shame and a waste, but what was anyone to do about it?

I suppose I have to tell the tale of those that finally gave themselves to stop me. They were the heroes of time: Cless, Chester, Mint, Klarth, Arche, and Suzu. I decided they would be the ones I was to defeat and kill, and indeed I succeeded on that level. I had followed these warriors throughout time, watching them defeat the dark lord Dhaos 3 different times. These 6 were all scattered across time, though, and after Dhaos' defeat they proceeded to return to their own respective times: Cless, Chester, and Mint to my present, Suzu to 100 years in the future, and Arche and Klarth to 50 years back. After I witnessed Dhaos' defeat, I hung around the future and waited.

And that is where my time begins. From then on, I would never be the same, never return to my old life, and never return to the barren waste that is the earth to continue what I had left behind. My life was about to change, and I would finally feel what a soul was. I have given this world nothing, and I will never get a chance to give anything in return other than this. My tale is my repentance, and my old life, a symbol of what darkness truly is. I suppose that Edward D Morrison said that "If there is truly evil in this world, then it lies in the hearts of men," but I feel otherwise. True evil lied in me, and it is gift to the world enough that I may never step foot there again.

And now I must tell my tale, so that others may learn. Perhaps there is no point, since I doubt there will ever be another evil incarnate, but perhaps there is and will be. I may never know, but I at least will share the story regardless.


	2. Chapter 1

The Darkest Hour

By Ultima66

Chapter 1

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Life and death has always been an evergoing cycle, and has lasted eternity. What is it all really? Is life really the main priority of all? Is death really the end?

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I waited. My eyes were closed, but I knew everything that was going on around me. It was all a matter of time, now. Suzu would show up, and I would have part of my vengeance; a sick, untold vengeance that had no beginning nor end. It was this vengeance, though completely unfelt by me, that pushed me to be so evil. I was mad at something. It wasn't the world, it wasn't any specific person. It was absolutely nothing I could point out. I was just simply mad. Nothing meant anything to me. I was driven by an untold destiny, and untold force. It was absolutely unexplained, yet in itself the truth lie in its complete and perfect whole.

I sensed it. The time had come. Suzu had shown up at the outside of the Ymir forest. I made haste. I dashed through the plains next to the forest and quickly entered from the side opposite the edge Suzu had arrived at. The various creatures of the forest attacked. I simply ignored them they were not important to me. I dashed past their strikes and quickly made it to the ninja village. Then I started looking for my target.

I knew everything about our movement. I could sense anything I wanted to track, so I knew exactly where in that tangled maze of a forest we were going to meet. I found a spot of the woods that was relatively empty that I knew she would pass. Then I continued waiting.

"What are you doing here, traveler?" asked a voice from behind me.

I wheeled around. An elf was standing in the cover of the trees, watching over me. He had long, blue hair, and was wearing white robes. He was obviously suspicious of my actions and motive, but I didn't care too much.

"Look. I have nothing to settle with you. Please leave me be, for your own good," I replied.

"But I must conquer. This is our forest. Besides the ninja village, the entire forest of Ymir belongs to us. Without our permission, you have no right to be here," he replied.

"Like I said, it's for your own good that you leave me be," I said, wasting no time in focusing on my real target.

"In that case, I suppose you'll have to be shown out," he replied. He was now holding up a bow at ready, staring at me with a glare that told me he was ready to shoot at me.

"For your own good," I said, on last time, letting it ring in his mind. I drew my sword and dashed before he even knew what was happening. In a split second, my sword had flown through his side and it had sliced his side open, sending blood pouring out away from me. I then held up the sword again and stabbed him in the chest, watching him drop his bow, releasing the arrow upwards into the limb of a tree. The bloody corpse, having a side sliced apart entirely, and a stab wound reaching through his entire chest and exiting the other side, could do little more than spit out blood, which flowed down his chin and then into the dirt, as I released him and heartlessly let him fall onto the ground.

"For... your... own.. good." I repeated slowly, "What did I tell you?" The blood began to let out a stench, but I didn't care. My target had fallen into the trap, and I had just completed my warmup.

Suzu, noticing the elf's corpse, dripping with newly spilled blood, and stepped into the clearing. I can't help but wonder that if she hadn't done this, would she still be alive? Of course, I highly doubt it, since a target of mine had never escaped me, but it still comes to mind.

She wore an orange ninja suit, and had a yellow scarf around her neck. She was relatively short, with brown hair tied back. She carefully walked towards the corpse.

"What the hell happened here?" she said, not noticing me, as I was hiding in the shade.

"Hello, Suzu, and welcome... to your grave," I said solemnly, lacking any sense of emotion at all.

Her eyes widened, and she reached for her katana. "Who the fuck are you and why are you here?" she yelled.

I gave a small grin, not implying happiness, but more gravely the evil that had taken place just a minute or two before. "I can't quite say, Fujibayashi Suzu. I have no name, not that I know of, and I have no real motive, just what I feel when I'm being pulled by a force I can't quite explain," I replied. My eyes showed no compassion, no mercy for this girl. She was just a target, nothing more.

"Dammit! Tell me who you are! How do you know me?" she yelled. She had now pulled the katana out of its sheath.

"That is all I can tell you. I do not even know anything further than that much, but I know one thing: you're a target," I simply stated. I felt nothing more than a machine feels, nothing more than just the knowledge that I was going to kill Suzu.

"Target? What's that supposed to mean? Tell me," Suzu asked, still yelling in anger and confusion. She had never witnessed a dead elf laying on the ground of the forest which both her and the elves called home.

"All I'm going to say is that it means you and the other so called 'heroes of time' are not going to be living for much longer. Besides, I have followed you for quite a while. You could say I have followed Cless for 150 years. I have been planning for this, and nothing ever escapes my plans," I said.

"You're after Cless? If that's how it is then I'm going to stop you, you bitch," she said, staring at me with a feeling of malice.

She ran at me with the katana in from of her. I felt it quaint how a warrior like Suzu would ever, knowing that I had the ability to at least dispatch an elven warrior, run right at me rather than play it safe from a distance. I jumped over her, holding my sword behind me so that she wouldn't have a chance to strike at me in midair. She pulled out 3 stars from somewhere in the ninja suit and threw them at me. I landed fast, wheeled around, and slashed at the stars, knocking them to the ground. She put up her katana and drew spiked from both her sleeves, holding them like claws. Then she proceeded to toss them in two flurries at me. I blocked the first volley, but it seemed as if the second volley was going to strike me.

Within inches of my body, a wall of energy suddenly blazed up, blocking the strike. If vanished as rapidly as it had appeared and then I charged for her. We parried and struck for a few seconds, my sword to her katana, then we broke apart and jumped to the trees. I then slashed into the air, letting loose a burning wave of fire from my sword. It headed for Suzu, who jumped out of the way, then cleanly sliced down the upwards portion of the tree. We both jumped to another tree to avoid the falling mass of wood and leaves. I could catch sight of her slightly slipping on the jump to avoid the tree.

"You're quite a skilled warrior," she said to me.

"I know you're getting tired," I said. I could see her breathing heavily, and I knew she was losing her agility from watching her slip.

Shock showed in her expression. She knew I was right. Here I was, someone no one knew, and several feet away from me, Fujibayashi Suzu, a hero of time, looking stunned. She was afraid, very afraid, if not for her own life for the lives of the others.

"You're tired. You know how this is going to end, but yet you deny it, because it is the worst possible scenario. Don't attempt to have any optimism in you; it won't do any good," I heartlessly stated, "just let me do this and you won't have to work as hard."

My words seemed to have a detrimental impact on her morale, something else I didn't expect from her. I thought she would be a much greater opponent, but apparently I was wrong on that aspect.

With a sudden burst of speed I jumped at Suzu, sword held forward. She quickly jumped out of the way, but as I expected, her reflexes were slowed. The blade flew through her arm, leaving a several-inch deep gash. She yelled out in pain. My sword, already covered in mostly dried blood, now had fresh blood on it again. I took the sight of blood satisfyingly, not sure why, but it was one of the few things that made me even the slightest bit cheery. Suzu's orange suit was now stained red on one arm, and she knew that arm wouldn't be able to be used in a fight any more.

She stared at me with angry eyes. Dark, but burning with hatred towards me. She still had her right arm, so she wouldn't be in too much trouble, or I suppose that was what she would have thought. "You bitch," was all that she said.

"What then? What are you going to do? There is nothing you CAN do, so please, give it up," I said.

She took no more of my threats. She charged at me. With a swift jump I landed behind her and flung my arm back to hit her back with the hilt of my sword. Her katana fell out of her arm and clattered down onto the ground. She tried to jump down to get it, and I followed, in a falling strike. We met in midair a few feet from the ground, sending my sword straight through her shoulder, then proceeding to shoot downwards towards the ground at an angle, until my sword went all the way into the ground nailing her there by her there, now both of us covered in her blood.

I pulled the sword out, letting the force of it, combined with the friction between her shoulder bones and my sword, yank her upright. She fell to her knees, barely having any energy left. I gave another slash, straight through her stomach. Blood spurted out. She tried to yell, but she didn't have the energy to do even that. A somewhat weak sound escaped her, and blood started flowing down her chin and neck. I started for her katana.

Holding it up, I turned to face her. She was a pathetic sight, pools of blood on the ground, even more blood soaking her suit. Her eyes were barely open, for the first time, a look of deep depression and hopelessness on them. Of course, I can't say I looked any better. I had almost as much blood on me as her, only none of it was my own.

"What are you going to do?" she asked, weakly.

"You know what I'm going to do, but you're just denying it. Am I correct?" I asked, starting for her. I put up my own sword.

"Please... don't..." she could barely say anything more.

I laughed softly, chillingly. I was close now, my feet were stepping in her blood.

"You know that even if I didn't do anything more to you that you would still die. What's the point in asking for mercy?" my words were still cold and dark.

I grabbed her with one hand by her throat. Holding her up, I walked over to the nearest tree and held her against it, still strangling her. I held her own katana up to her chest. My grip was loose, so she could still breathe, not that it mattered at that point. Tears were pouring down her face, mingling with the blood on her neck and my hand. With a thrust, I impaled her chest, nailing her to the tree. Her eyes widened in surprise, then closed. Closed forever.

Suzu was dead. The first part of my mission was complete. I left her there, hanging by her own blade, hanging from that tree. With a grimace, I set off again.

"Now to the past I go," I said, as I used a spell to clean the dark, drying blood off myself, and I left to finish what I started. That godforsaken deed that was my life. The darkest hour had just begun.


	3. Chapter 2

The Darkest Hour

By Ultima66

Chapter 2

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They say that most of life is fate, and a small part of it is our will, but what will can really come of us, if fate wills us to do our will?

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I found a clean clearing in the forest. I knew I could do anything, anything that I desired, and no one would know. This tranquility, perfect peace, and isolation from everyone but the elves, which never strayed through the forest anyways in fear of monsters, meant that nothing done here would be recorded. On the other hand, only one thing held its grip on my mind: my mission, or to put it in better terms, my will.

I closed my eyes and held my arms in front of me. Suzu's body lay in the forest, still impaled to the tree where I had left it, soaked in blood, a dark, sadistic memoir.

"Someone will find it," I thought to myself, "But it will do them no good. I'll be long gone, and no one suspects me in the first place."

A blue circle appeared on the ground around me. Leaves started to blow around. The darkness that plagued me seemed impossible to tell, yet for some odd reason, to any passerby I would have easily been pointed out as pure evil. I don't know how I know this, but I knew that anyone could see I was evil, even though I seemed perfectly normal. And it wasn't the fact that I was here opening a time portal either. There was just an unexplained air about it. All I know is that as I look back upon my old self, I realize that something just wasn't normal. everything at a glance looked normal. You could draw a portrait and it would look just like any average person, or as average as warriors get, but once you actually got close, the darkness was chilling.

The blue circle began to form into a spell circle- a deeply intricate pentagram with flowered lines and flowing curves in perfect symmetry from just about any direction. Then, a hole ripped through the center, where I was standing. A pitch-black energy enveloped me and in a flash, I was gone.

It was like falling through an endless hole. Visible energy patterns covered the sides, and the time warp twisted and bended, but somehow, I kept falling straight down. Suddenly, a force shoved me to a halt. It wasn't a force that came from any particular direction. It wasn't pulling me from above, and it didn't feel like I was landing on anything. All I know is that it felt like I was free falling, then suddenly stopping. The vortex around me was swirling to a stop, and enclosing itself around me. It slowly shrank into a sphere, which was now surrounding my body, and vanishing. Slowly, the world of the past was revealed to my eyes.

I was in a small field. Apparently, the forest had yet to grow into this area yet, and I could see Ymir off a few dozen yards to my side. If I moved southeast, around the forest, I could go back up, travel east, then continue northward, following the mountain range in that area. Then I would reach the bridge leading to the famous island of Alvanista. From Alvanista I could travel eastwards, and after crossing some mountains, I would arrive in Cless' hometown, which at the point was named Beladum.

From there, I would go northward, to Klarth's hometown of Vennezia. That is where I planned to go.

On the other hand, there was a strait separating Ymir and the continent where Beladum lay. If I could get through that strait, I would just have to cross the mountains which surrounded Beladum and I would bypass Alvanista altogether, along with almost halving my traveling time. But at the moment, I couldn't figure out just what to do. Then the obvious rained on me, now more focused on getting there rather than accomplishing my goal, both of which needed to be done.

"Dammit! I'm next to a fucking forest and I can't figure out how to get across a few damn yards of water? What the hell was I thinking? Well, then, better now than later," and I got to work. I cut down a tree with my sword, coupled with my magic, searing a slice of a tree making it crash to the ground. After an hour so of dragging the tree over and cutting them up, I had a boat. I hiked for a few minutes, dragging the tiny vessel over to the water. The boat was not impressive, nor was the tree that made it, but I didn't care. I just wanted to make haste.

It was a tiny stretch, only about a half of a mile across. It wouldn't be hard to swim, but I couldn't not with my sword, and with what I could do with my magic anyways, I felt no need to swim. I cast off, using the sword as a makeshift paddle, as I was in a hurry and didn't want to bother with making a paddle. It's not like it mattered with this small of a distance anyways.

I arrived a few minutes later. Unfortunately, that was the easy part. The hard part would be traveling all those miles to Vennezia. I knew it would take days, so I decided to tell others that I was simply a wandering traveler and swordsman, wandering looking for a job. Unfortunately for me, I still had absolutely no clue as to how I was going to get Klarth and Arche alone anyways, but I kept my own priorities at a maximum. Sadly, those priorities were not exactly decent, wholehearted ones, with murder as a top. I began my trek up the mountains. This stretch wasn't so bad, but mountains are tough terrain regardless.

It's just as I said, I knew I had potential. It was just wasted potential, living a shell of a life, tearing that shell to pieces every time I killed another, yet never stopping, never ceasing, for that dark soul. Some are perfectly pure, I was perfectly impure. I wish I had found the light. Darkness should not have guided my actions, darkness should never guide anyone's actions. My heart bound by deep hyperbole: a full bodied nothingness, a perfect imperfection. I was a loner, so lonely I was unsure of whether I threw myself out from this world, or whether I was simply rejected. So much shrouded in darkness, so much unexplained. The only warmth I ever felt was the warmth of blood, flowing down my hand, a silent sign of murder. I cannot question why any of this happened, though, it was simply loud, overbearing, screaming silence. I have no clue why I impaled the young girl to that tree back in Ymir of the future. Life for her might have been perfect, she was, as it was apparent, a great warrior, and of only 13 too. It is, as you might say, fate that wrought her deathbed, or something else. Everything is apparently guided by fate, shrouded by a mystery that none can ever unravel. It was perhaps fate that I was so dark, so pitiful, and so murderous.

After several hours of trekking, I arrived at Beladum. I found the inn, and asked for a room. A few questioned me, saying that I seemed kind of like the travelers that saved the world from Dhaos. Little did they know, of course, that Dhaos would be back, to plague the future twice, not that it mattered at all, as the heroes would defeat him. Klarth and Arche would have already saved the world by now, no real harm would be done; Cless, Chester, and Mint would simply miss out on ever seeing Arche again. A dark humor surrounded the thought, and I laughed at it. Why the subject of friends never being able to see each other again was amusing to me I had no clue of. As I saw them say, Arche said that at least she would be around in the present, seeing as she's a half-elf. I knew she was wrong, and simply destroying some people's dreams were far more to laugh at for me than was appropriate.

I got to my room and went to bed, still feeling the humor in me, the dark humor that was nowhere near appropriate. The thought would make most people cry, in fact. I set down my sword, recalling the evil that I committed wielding it for a second, picturing dead bodies, and most of all, the image of Suzu stuck in the tree, and went straight to sleep.

"_Please. Don't hurt her. Take me."_

_A voice, faint and_ _weak, pleaded for mercy. A sound of a sword slicing through flesh was heard. A man's voice yelled out. Something fell to the ground. A sickly feeling spread over me, the same as when any murder is committed by me._

"_I will take you both," another said._

"_You're evil. Damn you. Damn you," were the man's last words._

_Then, a third voice cried out. A girl's voice._

"_I know what lay ahead for me. My life will end, but that is not end for me. I cannot say the same for you, however. A plagued soul does not rest, and sooner or later, you shall be no more on this earth. Did you ever consider that?"_

"_You talk of saving me when you're the one who is about to lose their life? You are quite pathetic."_

"_Pathetic? Am I? You can say all you want, and do all you want, but there is one thing you cannot erase. Whatever happens..."_

I awoke. Light was feeding through the windowsill, and it was time for me to get going. "What did that all mean?" I wondered to myself. Everything was so blurry. It could have been something that had happened before, but I didn't recall anything distinctly like that situation. I had never targeted a couple, or whatever that was.

"It's probably just something my mind is making up," I said quietly. I stepped out of the hotel and left the quiet town. I started traveling north.

Some say isolation and wilderness bring out the worst in us. Some say the best. There didn't seem like there was much left for me, seeing as how futile it would be to picture someone worse than me. And as far as better, that was quite ridiculous. I even dreamed about murder. My isolation gave me time for my mind to wander. Time to breathe and think for itself, separate from my heart and soul, filled with emptiness. My mind created that situation, my mind shed light on what may have been a glimpse of the future.

I made it to Euclid Pass, a was through the mountains to get to Euclid. From there, Vennezia was close. There was a man selling his wares there, and a statue of a man next to him, and a small pass behind the statue. I asked him for directions, not that I entirely needed them, and he told me to head on forward for the long way, or to go past the statue for a shortcut that takes me over the mountain. Naturally, I took the shortcut.

"Aren't you going to at least look at what I'm selling?" he asked me, as I turned and started walking. I was silent, and moved on, and he understood.

The view from the mountaintop was quite nice, but I had no time to bother with this. I found a few pouches with some supplies in them just lying there, but I left them alone. A bugbear stood in my way, and by now the "path" had become a small 3 foot long cliff edge. The bugbear was hunched over and held a small club, having the features of a bear, only humanlike. It swung at me, which I met with my sword. Then I swung downwards at him, which it had to fall back to avoid. I simply gave him a swift kick, sending him sliding off, like a ragdoll off a slope.

"Pf... dumbasses," I said to myself. The bugbear had landed, making a cloud of dirt at the foot of the mountain. I moved on.

I arrived at Euclid. It was a lively city, much more going on than the lonely Beladum. Children were racing in the streets, and there was a minstrel in the city square. I stopped at the cafe, found a seat, and sat down to take a breather.

"I'll have a cup of coffee, please," I said, even though it was a bit late for coffee. It was a few hours past noon, and everyone had already eaten lunch, so the place was relatively empty. A waitress brought in my cup, and I sat, drank, and thought. It was almost disturbing how someone who appeared so normal would be really out on such a horrible mission. I wondered if the people who saw me could tell I was evil or not, but I came to the conclusion that though they could tell, they banished the thought. I, being so solemn and silent, would seem mysterious enough to be shrouded in such an evil air.

I moved on. Euclid was fine, but I still had a job to do. Moving north, I arrived at a bridge. It led to ruins, ruins of a city Dhaos' followers had destroyed called Harmel. It would be gone forever; no future ever held plans for rebuilding it.

Moving through the silent city, I headed on north. This would be Bart's house. Klarth spent a lot of his time here, and since Arche was now always with him, she might be here, too. If so, I'd save the time it took to go on to Vennezia. Bart himself wasn't tehre, but I found an all too familiar sight- a girl riding on a broom, seemingly very relaxed and casual, sitting on it sideways- Arche. She was gazing at the Sylph's Mountain, where the Sylphs lived, until Klarth brought them into his control, creating their contract.

"Arche Klaine," I said, loud enough that she would notice.

"Hm? Who are you, sir? A friend of Klarth's? Why are you calling for me?" she responded.

She was a cute, bubbly girl. She always seemed casual, relaxed. She had bright pink hair and it was tied up in a long but rough ponytail. It was quite interesting how this 18-year-old was so innocent and immature, while Suzu, only 13, was so focused and determined.

"No, but I am calling for you, because I am going to be the one that is going to determine your fate,"

"What? Come on, I don't know you," she said, casually, still having no clue about the situation.

"Arche, I am here... to take your life,"

Her expression suddenly turned to shock.

"You're kidding, right? You better be," She said, sounding a bit more serious. A tiny bit worried.

"In fact, I'm not," I said.

"I need to find Klarth," she said, to herself, jumping on her broom and flying off into the valley.

I knew Klarth was at the Sylph's Mountain. I slowly followed. Haste was needless. I had those two just where I wanted them, and nothing warranted their escape. Their deaths were approaching, and nothing was to stop that.

"Take your sweet time. It's more important than you realize," I said, once Arche was off in the distance.

The darkest hour was rising, and no one could do anything about it. Fate had guided my hand, and it was going to guide me to kill these innocent people. Nothing was otherwise. If I was to be nervous, fate would guide me to be nervous. On the other hand, I was perfectly calm. I knew that it was over for them, and nothing can stop that which is inscribed in fate.


	4. Chapter 3

The Darkest Hour

By Ultima66

Chapter 3

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People take everything forgranted until they lose it, or do they? One questions this when it comes to life, but one thing is certain: that death strikes us all eventually.

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It was hopeless now, the two's fates. I had sealed them, and their souls would be free to roam soon, here in the Valley of Wind.

I paced forward, to the valley's entrance. Arche was long out of sight by now. Of course, I could sense her presence in the valley, so I followed her. This was a small place, and there would be nowhere to escape, not that escape would have helped their cause any.

I could feel her heart racing. How quaint it is, to be able to know how others feel, yet never having such warmth inside yourself. The main part of the Valley was straight, with high cliffs hanging over the sides. I walked toward the end of the valley, where Klarth was and Arche was headed.

Arche had now alerted Klarth. I knew her to be a quite loud girl, and quite a rebel, but she was loyal to Klarth. Klarth was her mentor, and the one she would turn to for help in the worst situations, and this was definitely a bad situation for her. Moments later they appeared in front of me.

Klarth was relatively tall, wearing a pointed brown hat and long vest, and an orange suit. Tattoos covered his body, and he held a large tome. Several rings were visible on each hand: his summoner's rings that granted him contracts with all the spirits.

Arche followed on her broom, pink baggy pants with a white shirt. They both looked determined to stop me at whatever I was going to do.

"Why are you here, and who are you?" he asked.

"Didn't Arche tell you already? I'm assuming she did, which means that you know I'm here to claim your lives. Of course, if she didn't I see no reason you'd be so angry to see someone you don't know," I said, almost jokingly.

"So she's correct. In that case, I have only one thing I can do, and that's to stop you," he said, solemnly.

"It's so interesting you're acting as angry at me, seeing as you are normally so carefree, and flirt with every woman you meet," I said, still making fun of him.

He didn't say a word. I knew it mean that the battle has begun. Apparently, Arche took to this as well, as she held up her arms, yelling "Lightning!"

A green spell circle appeared behind her. A moment later a bolt of electricity flared forward and right at me. In quick action I jumped to the side, my hand now on the hilt of my sword. The bolt hit the ground, leaving a burn mark. I pulled my sword.

Then I suddenly noticed Klarth. He had his tome open, and was now saying the oath of the contract. An enormous spell circle was on the ground under him. I leapt towards him, only to be met with a fireball, almost striking me. Then, Klarth raised his hand, and shouted the name of the ruler of this place.

"SYLPH!" he yelled.

A group of three sylphs appeared above. They held their hands in front of them, and sent a burst of wind forward at me. I was knocked to the floor, dirt flying everywhere. Klarth stared at me solemnly.

"Leave now, and bother us not. I will spare you," he said.

Getting up, I sheathed my sword. I realized this was not a battle to be fought with my blade. Not this time.

"I'm nowhere near done fighting. If you want me to actually start fighting, then so be it. You're through," I said, menacingly.

It was my turn to attack. I held my hand upwards and with my own spell circle behind me, shouted "Fireball!" and sent a flurry of fireballs roaring at the sylphs. They blocked with another burst of wind, which caused one fireball to go flying at Arche. She managed to avoid it, but only barely, and she was shaky getting back up.

I continued to channel fireballs. They were all avoided, but the sylphs and especially Arche were having a hard time avoiding it. They all fired at me at once, Arche with a blast of frost. I leapt upwards, and channeled my own spell in midair.

"Lightning!" I yelled. This time, I was up in the air, so the sylphs didn't have a chance to avoid the attack. The dematerialized back into their own world, like ghostly spectres vanishing into thin air.

By the time I landed, however, Klarth was already calling another spirit.

"Luna!" he called. The spirit of the moon came down from the clouds, piercing the sky. She fired a barrage of crescent beam at me. I quickly brought up an energy shield, but the barrage was doing it's damage. I quickly focused on a spell, and I noticed the green spell circle had appeared behind Arche too.

Moment later, I released my shield.

"INDIGNATION!" we both yelled simultaneously. Lightning bolts started exploding everywhere, annihilating anything around. The enormous spells met between us and caused a huge explosion.

I was thrown back. Klarth was apparently out of the blast range, and Arche and Luna had apparently flown high enough to dodge.

"I think it's time for some moves you've seen before, perhaps performed by Cless?" I said.

I focused myself. Suddenly, I burned with fire. Becoming a deep-red flaming bird, I took flight and dive-bombed Luna, past her barrage of crescent beams. As I hit I reverted and started falling down. Luna then dematerialized just like the sylphs.

"So, how do you like a Phoenix attack used against you?" I said

Klarth looked unconcerned. He started chanting another spell. And before I could react, Arche had readied a spell of her own.

"Lightning Blade!" she yelled, as a stream of lightning pured forward and covered the area with bolts. I quickly blocked, but this time I was thrown down. I got up slowly, watching Arche for any spells she might decide to throw at me.

Suddenly from behind, a burst of fire erupted, and there were minuscule explosions and heat that I could feel on my back. I wheeled around, and in front of me now hovered the god of fire: Ifrit. Ifrit pelted the area with fireballs, and it was the most I could do to block. Waiting for and opening, I found one and leapt upwards, landing behind a rock, temporarily blocking Ifrit and Arche's assault.

"Alright, then. Klarth is getting to be a huge pain. Every time I take down one of those damn spirits, anotehr takes it's place," I said to myself, thinking. I drew my sword.

I held the sword upwards, as a blue barrier enveloped me, containing an enormous gust blowing straight up, lifting me up a few inches. Suddenly, I vanished.

"He can teleport!" said Arche in surprise. By now Klarth was looking shocked. Who in the world can use the most powerful skill of their leader, Cless?

I reappeared next to Klarth, slashing at him. He fell back, but was unharmed. I warped back to where I had began, behind the rock. I thought for a second.

"Alright, time to prove why I have this sword. It better hold a charge," I stated to myself. I knew what I was doing now. My sword was able to hold a spell, so that I wouldn't have to charge it myself. Unfortunately, my past attempt at this didn't work right. It had released too early, sending my fireball spell exploding in every direction, without me having the time to aim it.

I began focusing energy towards the blade. I ran out from behind the rock, discovering Arche having a Tidal Wave spell ready, sending a torrent towards me. No time to worry now, I thought. I just kept on running forward, avoiding the torrent. Ifrit saw me and began throwing more fireballs, in a rapid flurry rivaling that of an entire army of bowmen. I kept on running. I dashed behind Klarth, making him have to jump to the side to avoid Ifrit's attack.

Then suddenly, my sword glowed. I dug my foot into the ground, wheeling all the way around mid-motion, and pointed my sword at Klarth.

"Indignation!" I yelled, as the enormous explosion of lightning roared out, heading straight for Klarth, who had still not gotten up after Ifrit had fired his direction. He was sent flying, shocked and severely hurt, hitting the cliff on one side of the valley.

His eyed glowed with shock. He didn't speak, but even Arche could tell what he wanted to say. He knew he had met his match, someone that could beat his summons and still be able to attack him. I wasted no time. I dashed forward, holding my sword forward, and ran right at him. The blade sank into his stomach, and as I pulled it out, blood freely gushed from the wound. He dropped his tome and fell to the floor, almost in a sitting position, then fell forward and closed his eyes.

"No!" yelled Arche, "You can't die! Klarth!"

"It's over, there's no denying it.," I said. Ifrit had now begun dematerializing, for without a contract, the spirit would not follow the orders of anyone else.

"You... you MURDERER! You're nothing but a no-good murderer!" she yelled at me.

"If you must blame me for something by yelling it in my face, why don't you make it a less obvious quality of mine?" I said coyly. She couldn't do anything about it. I didn't care about killing anyone. A normal person would feel guilt, but I didn't. I held up my sword, covered in blood, and turned to Arche.

"I... You're... ugh. God! I have to try to stop you! It's the only thing I can do, and I have to do it!" said Arche.

"That's futile thinking, as for one, you won't stop me, and besides, your death will be this part of my quest coming to a close won't it? So you really do stop me by dying, not that I haven't done what I wanted," I said.

We stared at each other. Silence. Moments passed.

"Indignation!" we both yelled simultaneously. Again, the two enormous spells hit, but this time, Arche was obviously really after me, and I conformed to her anger by making my attack just as large as hers. The resulting blast caused a rock slide on one side of the cliff, and I dodged, while she flew higher. Using the falling rocks, I jumped upwards towards the top of the mountain. With another momentous leap, I was in the air only a few feet from Arche. I slashed, this time using the properties of the sword to engulf it in energy, extending the range. Arche flew backwards, but the tip of the blade caught the broom and it started falling. Arche tried to regain balance, but couldn't, as she fell towards the mountain.

She regained balance at the last minute, and stopped, but now she was floating dangerously near a cliff, with nowhere to go. I used my own spell.

"Explode!"

A flare ripped through the mountain, sending Arche flying. The broom flew upwards, toward me, and I caught it in my own fall. I landed cleanly, while Arche slammed into the ground, a few feet from Klarth's dead body. I tossed her broom behind me. All the better for me if I could actually reach her.

She got up slowly. She was weakened, but I knew from the burning look she gave me that she could take me on. We stood facing each other silent again.

Minutes passed. We were both focusing our energy so that we could cast a chain of spells. This was going to be one firefight I wasn't going to forget. I started.

"Fire Storm!"

A torrent of flaming debris flew forward, and a burning tornado formed. The storned towards Arche, scorching the ground in their wake.

"Stone Wall!"

Arche conjured a wall of rock, repelling the fire and the wind. She was now out of sight, but not out of trouble.

"Explode!"

The wall shattered, leaving us facing each other again. Now Arche decided she would be the one to fire at me.

"This is for Klarth F. Lester, the greatest researcher I have ever known. God Breath!"

A freezing wind picked up, and the scorched rock was now frozen over as the water in the air suddenly condensed and became solid.

"Fire Wall!"

I raised a wall of fire, completely reversing the flow of condensation, causing a massive explosion of as the water in the air struggled to change temperatures this fast.

"Ray!"

Arche's spell tore through the steam, as beams of light covered the area.

"Black Hole!"

A dark hole began forming over us. I felt the immense gravity push me upwards. The rocks around were now flying upwards toward the hole. I looked into it, and found the core.

"Indignation!"

The bolt struck the core of Arche's spell, canceling it. We were both breathing hard, after that test of reaction.

"You still got any left?" I asked, knowing she was more tired than me.

She remained silent. We both focused for a few seconds. We knew what was going to happen, and this real test would show the victor. A few seconds...

"METEOR STORM!"

Enormous rocks flew from everywhere to everywhere. Neither of us could tell what the hell was going on; the insane amount of power a single Meteor Storm packed was almost beyond measure. Two being cast at the same time was unheard of. I used what energy I had left to make a shield, and allowed the assault to continue. Several minutes later, the rocks stopped falling. I looked over and saw Arche on the ground, almost no enrgy left, sitting next to Klarth's body. I knew she cared. She didn't love Klarth or anything, but to her, Klarth was a really important figure. Klarth was her teacher, her role model, and she used all of her energy to shield his body, even though she could barely protect herself.

"Please. Don't leave him down here. I'm going to die, and I don't know what will happen to me, but at least show him some respect," she pleaded, knowing the end was here.

"Arche, is it that you fall in with every guy you know, or that you'll be stupid enough to fight for whatever sentimental cause you have even though there's no point?" I said, "You don't love Klarth and you never did. So what is it that's making you care so much now?"

"It's... it's because I can't let someone like you prevail with destroying the memory of my friends. You just don't understand. You don't have a heart!" she said.

"Very well then. I don't care. I'm just here to do this, and I'm going to no matter what you say," I said. I tensed my grip on my sword. Slowly, I walked over to her.

"Please, don't leave him here..." she said again.

I walked forward. I grabbed her by her shoulder, lifting her up. She couldn't stand up, but I kept my grip. She turned her head towards me, tears flowing down her cheeks. I turned her around and pulled her close, grabbing her by the stomach. I held my blade up to her neck.

"So," I asked, "Any last words?"

She remained silent.

I pulled the sword closer, now touching her neck. I pulled the sword across her neck in a swift motion. A last breath escaped her, and her eyes flew open, staring forward, an empty look. Blood flowed down her chest, staining her blouse a deep red, then down to my other arm that was gripping her around the stomach.

She fell down as I loosened my grip, and closed her eyes. She fell to the dirt, and lay in a heap, stained with blood.

"Goodbye, Arche Klaine. You'll be missed, I suppose," I said, staring at the bloodstained corpse that lay in front of me.

"So, you wanted me to not leave Klarth here? Come on Arche, would I really give a damn about Klarth? If someone finds you two, I guess they can worry about it. I have things to be doing," I said, turning away from her, "Half of my mission is complete, so now it's time for me to move on to my own time, and finish off the other 3 heroes of time."

With that, I started walking towards the entrance of the valley. Half of the mission was now over, and I was to go on to finish it, my dark nocturne of a quest of death and destruction. It was time for the darkest hour to reach it's climax, and I would be the driving force behind it. My dark heart burned with the will of murder, and I was off to follow it.


	5. Interlude

The Darkest Hour

By Ultima66

Interlude

_Perhaps in time I shall realize something... I am unsure. Nothing makes sense anymore, and I feel like I am nothing, yet somehow I know I am here for something. I do remember one more thing, though, which I am sure that I didn't know before. A strange thought, but it makes perfect sense. It has been plaguing me ever since I have arrived in this world with no beginning or end, what I suppose is the afterlife, left to share my shattered tale of woe. All I know is that now is the time to share it, and that I must do. It is a piece of writing that I remember, precisely from that time period, precisely from the time that Arche had died. I suppose I left it somewhere, and never found it, until I remember it now. The writing is completely unlike myself though, and I have no way to explain it. Perhaps someone is recording my actions, perhaps it's part of a great enigma that I do not know about. At any rate, I hope to find relevance, and I feel that at some point it will be imperative for you to know this._

Half my quest has finally come to an end. Half, an indefinite amount. It is as large as the infinite reaches of space and time, or it may be as small as almost nothing. Half, so indecisive, such a poor term. Yes somehow it portrays this perfectly, but I feel it brings all too much light into this situation.

Three lives. Three lives taken at my blade, three souls gone because of me. I feel the force pushing me. I feel it. Three more lives will soon follow, and I know they will be at my cause. Such sadness, but what can I do? What can I do? Half of my quest is done, and with a half the other is sure to follow.

But still, I feel the chilling darkness inside me. Darkness that I can't control, darkness that knows no bounds. I have nothing any more. No more emotion, no more feeling, just emptiness. I only have that deep emptiness and chaos that fills my hollow shell of a soul, if you can call it a soul. I have nothing left, and the only warmth I ever feel now is from the blood of the ones I kill. Suzu, Klarth, and Arche... I can't believe the lives that have been taken. I have no more hope, no more hope at all.

I pray to you, Mother Martel. For you I have all the repentance in the world. Martel, please protect them, the ones that I know I am destined to take. Please, Martel. Please stop me, stop that dark force in me, the one that drives at me endlessly to push me on to complete my quest. Martel! Please free me from my horrible fate! Only you can help me Martel, only you.

Please, I know that it is coming back. My corruption is coming back. I must spend what little time I have left to let you know this, Martel. What little time I have left awake, my consciousness not robbed by the grasp of my evil. I must let you know, Martel, what you must do to help me. This is far too much for me, and you are the only one who can help. Martel, please do what I bet of you, please. You know I need you, and I am running out of time. My dark embrace will come back, and I know that you must do something about it.

Martel, I must part now. I know not of what you can do, and even less of what you will do, but my dark, dreary sonata must finally finish. It must be fulfilled, and only you can decide how it will be. Martel, I ask, no, I beg of you to please do this. To stop me from doing what I must. Martel, you're the only one left for me. The only one who cares about me anymore. I hope that these are not the final words I say worth of any mention, but as you know, I cannot determine that. Goodbye, Martel. Goodbye. I hope that you will someday learn of this, but until then, all I can do is dream, and that is what I will do. So as it is, until you answer my call, I bid you adieu.

_So that is how it goes. Nothing more, nothing less. I am so sure that it is not myself who wrote that, but something in me really wants to tell me that I am incorrect in the notion. Martel has to know of this, but I do not understand at all. In my whole life I never thought that there was going to be anything of me but my dark destiny. I never thought anything of Martel, so I am sure that it is not by my hand that the document was written, but then again, what do I know? I question the very notion of me knowing enough to decipher this, as I have never known anything but hate. So I guess I must continue the tale, perhaps you will learn something. The darkest hour will continue, and I shall be the one to pass on the legacy._


	6. Chapter 4

The Darkest Hour

By Ultima66

Chapter 4

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A true friend does anything for their friends, they say. Sadly, not many people can make that ultimate sacrifice for the ones they care about, but luckily, some can.

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I quickly stepped out of the valley. I needed to make haste. Moving as fast as I could, I got out and headed to Euclid. I had to get to my own time, but it would be easier to get past the mountains just north of Totus first.

I made a stop in Euclid. It was really busy as always, and their was the usual assortment of kids racing in the streets, as well as the group of musicians that always performed in the city square. No one suspected me, though, since I basically looked like the generic traveler that often passes through these parts. I knew deep down, though, I was far more evil than any generic traveler, far more darkness inside than anyone here could imagine.

Of course I chose not to show it, as that would be really disastrous. I knew I could attack the town, but it was neither strategically sound nor needed. It was going to get dark soon, but I couldn't stay in Euclid, since Arche and Klarth would definitely be found soon, and there would be a lockdown on all the cities, so I had to get to my own time as fast as I could. I continued moving on south.

What is it that makes us do the things we do anyways? We may say our minds, perhaps our souls. Who can tell? It doesn't seem right that a soul has so much power, even more so a mind. People say that you obtain energy and use it to move, and your brain is just the control center for senses that cause a reaction in you making you have different choices and choosing from them. But what gives us our soul? Souls are so powerful. It's almost like on this earth there are billions of different gods and they all rule over a body. It seems hard to believe everyone is just that powerful. And then there are the ones that question whether having a soul means you are not evil. I know I have a soul, as I am sure something is driving me to kill, but on the other hand, souls are supposed to be good, not corrupted with the blackest form of darkness.

I arrived at the mountains as the night dawned. I could have just gone on to my own time, but I decided to just rest first. When it come to time travel, it doesn't matter how long you take anyways. I climbed up the small hills, then set up a fire and lay down on the ground. I knew there wouldn't be a messenger coming all the way to Totus, seeing as they kept their affairs separate. It was rare for people to go to the Valley of Wind anyways, seeing how the sylphs guarded it. I soon fell asleep as I was tired after taking out Klarth and Arche.

"_I know what lay ahead for me. My life will end, but that is not end for me. I cannot say the same for you, however. A plagued soul does not rest, and sooner or later, you shall be no more on this earth. Did you ever consider that?"_

I felt light shining down on me. I woke up, seeing the sun up, and got up and ready to move on. What was it about that? What did it mean? Do I really have no soul? I was confused, and for the first time in my life, I felt lost, unsure of myself. I knew I had to finish my quest, but I didn't know why. I thought that I might not even have a soul indeed...

I perished the thought. It was imperative for me to get moving. Attempting to focus, I created a spell circle around me. It was weak for a while, but I continued to try to focus, and it finally got to the point where I could time travel. Anyone could tell my mind was bothered, but I couldn't do anything about it. So through the time warp I went. The world spun out of control for a second, then I fell into a seemingly endless tunnel, constantly falling, until I hit the ground. I was now in my own time.

"Finally, I'm back to my own time to finish this," I said

I headed south down the mountain. The terrain showed obvious signs of wear, being not nearly as new as the time of the past. The path was smaller, because parts of the path had broken off and fallen down the cliffs. It wasn't dangerous by any means, but it could still be obviously seen that the mountains were wearing down.

I moved on southward. I was intent on ending this as soon as possible, so that I could go on. Unsure of what there was to continue on, I pushed on ever harder for some unexplainable reason. I crossed the plains between the mountain and Totus, sword at my side, tense, but without fear.

I unusually tense. That dream, why did it continue to show up? Dreams are supposed to be about your thoughts, but nothing like this had ever happened, to my knowledge. My head felt like it was spinning out of control. I held up my hand to my forehead for a second, closed my eyes in thought, took a deep breath, and tried to focus.

"I'll just do this. I feel so weird right now," I said to myself in a whisper.

Totus was a small, contained village. Miguel and Maria, however, two of the original warriors who sealed away Dhaos, lived here, as did Cless, their son, and Chester, the two of which were one of the ones to finally defeat Dhaos. As I knew, Mint was staying here, as her mother was no longer around. I suppose I should have felt sorry for her, dying in a dungeon to one of Dhaos' servants, but I didn't. I didn't care about anything right now but my goal, and I never did.

Looking around the village, I found out that all of them were south of the village, in the woods nearby.

I headed south, hoping no one caught on, but not really worrying, since it didn't matter. If I had to, then I would just raze the entire village, even though it wasn't for the best of my interests.

The woods here housed Yggdrasil, the mana tree. This alone was the source of mana for the entire world, and was almost destroyed with the activation of the mana cannon, forcing Mint to have to protect it. It was only a short walk away, and Cless and Chester would come here to hunt often.

Upon entering I instantly felt an energy surge through me. I heard a calm, gentle voice.

"Please, don't do what you're about to do. I am here to protect you, and I must do that no matter what."

"Martel, don't even try it," I said, "Let me do what I'm going to do, and don't interfere. You know better than to mess with the course of nature."

Martel was the guardian of these woods, and she was the protector of Yggdrasil.

"Just because I didn't interfere when Dhaos attacked doesn't mean I'm not afraid to stop you. You'll know better eventually, but as of now, I can't tell you anything," she said.

"I know you won't try to stop me. It's not because you're afraid to do it, but I know you won't harm me. You created this world, so you created me. You have never done anything to harm any of your creations, have you?" I replied.

Upon these words, I felt a sense of shock in the surrounding energy.

"Maybe I have never done so before, but I'll be watching you, and don't push my limits," she said.

"Oh whatever do you mean? Just leave me alone and let me do what I'm going to do. Martel, I'm not scared of you. Just because you have far more power than I will ever hope to dream for doesn't mean I don't know that you won't use that power to stop me. You'd never harm anyone," I said confidently.

"You're warned," she said, and the energy was gone.

I moved on. Talking to Martel was a waste, nothing more. She meant nothing to me, and of course she was never going to try to harm me. Such a naive goddess, I thought, caring for everyone. So useless, so inane... Who needed a goddess that did none but protect the mana of this world? No one needed mana to survive, all it really did was to cause the firing of the mana cannon, causing widespread chaos.

I finally found the three in the woods, just talking. It was soon after the fight with Dhaos, and it was indeed hard for any of them to get over it. They just wanted to relax, unknowing of their fate of a rest that had no end. I walked up and spoke.

"So there you are. I am here because it is time for me to end your lives, and you won't be getting away," I said deliberately.

"What are you talking about?" asked Cless. The three of them were now facing me, questioning looks on their faces, unknowing of what to think of me.

"You heard me, did you not? I am here to take your lives," I said.

Cless pulled his sword. Seeing he was still questioning me, I pulled mine. Actions really do speak louder than words, and with my charge, there would be no more question what my intention was.

"Cless, Mint, Chester. It's over," I said.

I slashed, as Cless jumped out of the way. It was somewhat apparent he couldn't match my skills, and I was using a lighter blade. Chester nocked an arrow, aiming for me.

"Get out of here, you two! Cless, you can't handle him. Get away!" yelled Chester.

"No. We have to help," said Mint, "We can't let any of us get hurt."

"Look, maybe you can't tell, but just by looking I know this guy is dangerous. You guys have to run of you're going to get away with your lives," said Chester.

He fired. I dodged to the side and slashed at the arrow, cutting it in half.

"So one of you can tell it would be a good idea to run. Too bad it won't do anything," I said.

"Get out!" said Chester.

Cless nodded, and grabbed Mint's arm and started running away from the forest.

"Chester, don't do this..." said Mint, tears now in her eyes. She was weak. She couldn't handle losing any of her friends. Typical of healers, so connected to everyone else, still so pointless.

"I'll be fine, you two. Trust me," he said.

"Really? I beg to differ," I said.

He turned his attention to me. "Look, you. We all knew you were coming. We heard about Arche and Klarth, and we all know you're nothing but a lowlife bitch."

"Fighting words, eh? Let's do this," I said.

I started dashing through the trees. Chester pulled his bowstring back, nocking another arrow. He kept his aim on me as I ran, a blur in the trees. He fired right in front of me.

The arrow shot so fast it could hardly be seen. Still, I knew it was going to hit me if I didn't do anything, so I plunged my sword in the ground, jumping over the shot. The arrow went into a tree as the sword lifted up, cutting it in half. Landing on the ground, I continued dashing. I was going in a circle, slowly closing in on him. That was the number one rule with attacking someone with superior range: close in while avoiding their attacks.

Chester responded in kind. Jumping into the air, he pulled several arrows from his quiver, then fired in a rapid flurry at me, Leaving a trail of arrows behind me. I jumped to the side to narrowly avoid one, allowing him to aim right at me.

Just as several arrows were about to hit me, I released a spell circle, creating a barrier. The arrows bounced off, almost breaking through, and flew dangerously fast into the ground nearby. He focused, and used his own magic to fire off a huge arrow. It smashed through the barrier, forcing me to jump to the side again.

I went on the offense now. I created another spell circle and fired a lightning blade at Chester, which he met by shooting an arrow into the ground and creating a small wall to block.

"You're good," I said.

"Likewise," Chester responded, "But that doesn't mean I'm gonna let you beat me. I refuse to let you win, for everyone's sake."

"Your fates are already sealed. You three are the only ones left, why try?"

"Because I know what being a friend is about."

"Is it really so important?" I asked, "You'd rather die than allow your friends to die? I'd say you were naïve, since Cless and Mint aren't going to live either way, but then again, I'm here for you too, and picking a fight with me just makes my job easier."

"Then come and get me," he said, as he started dashing to my side. I gave chase, with a fireball constantly ready to throw at him whenever I had an opening.

Tossing several, he simply avoided every hit. We were both just as fast, and neither could outmatch the other in this chase. He suddenly jumped onto a tree, vaulted backwards, and fired at me upside-down. In my momentum I couldn't do anything, and an arrow shot right through my shoulder, but not before I fired at him with my fireball. He landed several feet in front of my and I landed on my knees, both from me trying to stop so fast and from me grabbing my shoulder in pain. Pulling it out, dark blood flowed out. I threw the arrow wildly at Chester, now trying to get up.

He caught it, shocked at the feel of my blood on the arrow.

"It's... cold," he said, tensely, "What kind of a person are you?"

"How should I know?" I said, laughing, "I know I'm here. I know I'm here to kill you, and that's it. I don't know anything about my history, but I know my present, and that's it. I know my heart is nothing but pure darkness, and my soul's guidance only plunges me farther and farther into evil."

"You're a monster, nothing more," he said, "A monster!"

He nocked the arrow he had caught from me, and shot it right back, with me still on my knees. I held up my sword to block the shot, but suddenly I saw a glint of green in it, and I dodged to the side, the arrow grazing my arm.

"About time. Martel, I told you not to fucking interfere," I said angrily.

"Why would Martel waste time talking to a worthless bitch like you?" Chester said.

"If only I knew, I'd tell you. Martel, get out of here. You're just being annoying, and I know you're not going to really going to do anything to me," I said.

I felt Martel's presence leave. I got up, and saw Chester dash off. I followed again, since I knew that fireball took quite a bit from him. After a few seconds of chasing, I saw it: Yggdrasil. I stopped in my tracks.

"Chester! What do you think you're doing? You think Martel will help you just because you're here?" I said.

Chester turned around, "You think Martel won't help me?"

A beautiful figure appeared in front of us, with long green hair and beautiful green eyes that could make you lose yourself in them. Martel wore a long white robe and was surrounded by a glowing aura of light. She held a long staff, and she had two leaves on the side of her hair, giving her the obvious look of a nature spirit.

"Martel," I said, nodding my head in recognition, "So what then?"

"Martel, I know you're not going to let this monster take my life. Martel, stop him. Don't let Mint's kindness to you go unnoticed," said Chester.

Martel looked at us with a sad look, worry and confusion deep in her eyes.

"Sorry," she said, "Both of you."

A tears dripped down her face, and she looked away, leaning on Yggdrasil and sobbing. I never knew she could be like this. Martel was supposed to be strong, she was the spirit of Yggdrasil, the mana tree.

"Martel... get up. If you're not going to handle your fucking problems with me don't get all miserable about it. It's your fault," I said coldly.

"How dare you say something like that to Martel!" yelled Chester.

"Chester, don't worry," she said, "Look, I may have my problems, but if you were me, you'd understand. If only you knew..."

With that, Martel disappeared into Yggdrasil.

"Martel..." Chester said lightly, "You drove Martel away. I can't believe you."

I held up my sword and started moving towards him.

"What?" he said, blankly staring at me.

"Come on, you know you're going to attack me sooner or later.," I replied.

"Go ahead, kill me. I don't care any more," he said, "Look. Seeing Martel so weak made me lose hope. If she were going to help stop you, she would have done it already. I'm going to die, and that's that. Sorry, everyone, I let you all down. Cless, Mint, Arche..." he closed his eyes as tears flowed down his face.

"Arche, eh? So you really did like her. That's a laugh. She was nothing but loud and obnoxious, I can' believe you saw anything in her," I said.

"How would you know? You don't know anything about it! You don't have a damn heart!" he yelled, more tears flowing, now falling on the ground, Chester on his knees.

"Get up. Stop acting like such a wimp. You could at least not fucking act like a girl when you're about to die," I said heartlessly.

He wiped away his tears and stood up, looking down, breathing heavily.

"Do it," he said, "Now."

I walked up to him, sword to his chest. He stared at me for a second, with no hope in his eyes anymore, and then dropped his bow. I sent the sword into his chest and then pulled it out, letting the blood flow all over him.

"Goodbye, everyone. I'm sorry I let you all down," he said, as he fell over backwards.

Martel reappeared. "Are you happy now?" she said, "So you've defied me. What do you have now?" she asked, "Just... just leave. You knew I wouldn't stop you, but I am indeed upset. You've let me down."

"What? Since when did I have to do anything for you? I'm out of here, you stupid bitch," I said coldly to her.

As I walked from the forest, I could tell Martel was burying Chester. Chester would forever be with her in spirit, and even though she knew she wasn't going to stop me, she would forever hate me for committing murder in front of her very own tree.

It was time to take out Cless and Mint. The darkest hour was still high, and there would be more suffering, but it was going to end soon, and everyone knew it. The end was nigh, and there was no denying it.


	7. Chapter 5

The Darkest Hour

By Ultima66

Chapter 5

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Everything must come to an end eventually. Fights and wars may mean nothing at all in the sense that nothing makes a real difference, but we still do it.

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I left the forest. A light breeze stirred and the clouds loomed overhead. As I walked the breeze stirred a bit faster, and before long, a light shower began falling. The drops hit my skin, sending a bitter and sad feeling into me. The scent sparked more bitterness, and I was soon standing there turned towards the forest cursing Martel.

"Martel! Cheer the fuck up and leave me alone! You let this happen, and you know it. You could have stopped me, but you didn't. You know you have the power to stop me. Damn pacifist!" I yelled.

Martel appeared on the edge of the woods. Her face was worn and anyone could see it was her sadness that created the rain. She remained silent and stared for a minute. She then looked back towards her forest, then turned around and spoke.

"What do you understand? You don't have any clue why anything happens in this world. You don't know why I let you do what you want, you don't know why Chester had to die, you don't know why you are even here. Do what you want, but don't question my decisions, you hear that?" said Martel. She was angry at me, and I could feel it.

However powerful Martel was, however much I knew she could easily kill me, I felt no worry. Martel was not someone I cared for, and not someone I needed to worry about. She was a wimp, letting her power rot when she could have used it for her advantage. I had no understanding of remorse, and I had no care for others is I had something to gain.

"I'm out of here. Do what the hell you want," I said.

"I'll be watching you," she said.

"Do I give a damn? You won't do anything," I replied, as I turned around an walked off.

Something came from behind me. I felt the wind pick up and jumped to the side. A blade tore across the ground, leaving a cut in the ground. It swerved backwards and veered down, spinning into the ground and sending it flying upwards at an angle. As it turned towards me, I shot it down with a lightning bolt. A sharp crack and a flash of green followed. The blade was sent flying upwards limply, and I caught it. Upon closer inspection, I saw it was a well-crafted boomerang, sharp on the edges and several feet long, crafted from wood but as hard and as sharp as steel.

"What is this? Martel, don't do something this stupid to try to stop me. It won't help. Now leave!" I said, throwing it back at the forest, the blade sticking into a tree.

The blade exploded in a burst of green so bright it blinded my vision, then it vanished suddenly. I moved on towards Totus; I had to find Cless and Mint after they ran off.

I walked all the way to Totus, a lot on my mind. Martel was acting unusually weak, and I was for once doubting her ability. I wanted to see Martel's power but she obviously refused to show it, or otherwise had no more power. Martel, a goddess, acting weak. It was completely incomprehensible, and had I not been driven by the evil that plagued me, I would have lost hope just as Chester had. The battle would have ended, Martel's tears would have put an end to the blood.

But now... rain. Soft rain, a sad and solemn scene. I felt a deep sadness build in me, and I knew Martel wanted me to feel remorse. Sadly, it did nothing against my will, and I continued on. Totus was here.

The sky cleared up, Martel's reach only affected the forest, and she didn't want to cause any distraction anywhere else. I knew Cless was here, I just had to find him.

While searching around Cless showed up in front of me. Brownish blond hair, with a long red cape and armor over his upper-body, a sword at his side. He stared into my eyes, and we knew this was going to end in battle. Mint stood behind him; holding her staff close, knowing what was going to happen. A beautiful figure, blond hair reaching all the way down to her waist, a long white dress with a cross on it, and a white hat with another cross on it.

"Cless," I said, keeping calm despite the enormous tension between us.

"So... Chester is really gone," he said, worry flooding into his voice. Mint gasped in shock.

"Indeed, he gave up and took his death. You should do the same and not waste my time," I replied.

"Give up? Why don't you? You killed my best friend and there's no way of fixing it anymore. I've lost so much because of you, and it's time for me to avenge the ones I lost. Arche, Klarth, Suzu, and most of all, Chester," he said.

"Just because you care doesn't mean I don't. I simply care about killing you two and getting it done for and as long as that happens I'll care all I want about your friends," I said, telling him straight up that I didn't care at all about other people.

"I won't let you hurt Mint, and you know it," he said.

"Indeed, but I also know that I will kill both of you anyways, so there's no point in trying to escape your destiny," I replied.

"How do you know? How do you know what destiny is? I believe it's my destiny to avenge all that has been taken by you by killing you once and for all. At least Dhaos had a righteous cause but you're just horrible," said Cless.

"May I say something?" asked Mint, "Look, I will accept whatever happens but know that I did care. I did care about everything you did. I heard your curses of Martel, and I will tell you this much: Martel is much greater than you will ever hope to be. I don't' care how powerful you are, at least we have a heart, while you are nothing but a horrible automaton bent on senseless murder."

"Tough words, little Mint. Too bad you can't back those up. Why don't' you let the men handle the real fighting?" I asked tauntingly.

Cless pulled his sword. Following suit I pulled mine, and readied myself as Cless charged towards me.

"Lightning Blade!"

"Hammer!"

Nothing happened. I didn't launch a devastating attack, and Mint never followed through with a hammer attack. As Cless jumped at me, I sidestepped and then held my sword up to block.

"What the hell was that?" I asked.

"I'm... not sure. I can't feel Martel's energy going through me anymore," said Mint. She held her hand up to the earring and touched it, "It's not working. Mana isn't working anymore."

"What? That bitch Martel really is doing something. That thing must have been somehow connected to the mana. That explains that green flash anyways," I said.

"I'm not going to try to figure out what you're talking about, but I guess this means you'll have to stay out of this, Mint," said Cless.

She nodded and backed away into a corner. We split and moved off away from each other.

"Fury strike!"

Cless charged up his sword and unleashed an enormous attack. I quickly jumped out of the way and came down with my sword. Cless parried with his own sword. We broke and then Cless took a slash at me. I jumped backwards a few steps, his sword hitting the ground. I jumped towards him, doing in a full turn in midair before swinging my sword and letting the momentum of the spin carry the attack. He back stepped, then struck downwards, sending my sword into the ground.

Pulling it out, I ran to the side and started dashing around, waiting for an opportunity to strike. Dashing behind him I leapt forward with my sword pointed in front of me. Cless held his up and braced himself as my sword point hit right on his sword's broad side. He was knocked back a few inches but was still on the ground. Cless retaliated by slashing downwards at me. I jumped back again, this time bouncing right back with a second stab.

"Lionheart!'

Cless stuck his sword in front of him as an enormous lion head of fire erupted from his sword and struck me. It did minimal damage, but it stunned me enough to knock me back.

"I see how this is gonna be Cless. In that case, let's see what you've really got. Phoenix!"

"Alright. Phoenix!"

Both of us glowed red with fire. We suddenly transformed into blazing birds and took off to the sky.

By now the village was watching the sight, two blazing birds taking off, ready to dive bomb the other at any minute. Taking this to my advantage, I dashed back toward the ground, charging up energy. As I unleashed a storm of fire on Totus, a wall suddenly blocked it.

I saw her: Martel, flying up there, making the shield. She turned towards me.

"The village stays out of this. I will erase this event and move all of them for now. I can't stop this fight, but I'll do what I can to protect the innocent," she said.

In an instant, all the people in Totus except for Mint had vanished.

_Come on then. What are you waiting for? We have the whole village to ourselves now._

I heard it. It was Cless, telepathically talking to me because we were both mystical birds now. I shot a bolt of fire at the other flaming figure in the sky, and it retaliated by dashing into it, going right through.

I pulled all the energy I could in a full-speed dash at Cless. At the last moment, he pulled up, leaving me flying past him. I slowed about 50 yards past him and then took my own turn, only to see him turning back and forth, building up his flames for an attack. I tried to dash around but when I saw the firestorm coming at me I knew I had to think of something fast.

I pulled towards the ground at top speed, going for a few seconds as a sonic boom erupted behind me, folding a few of the flames. I went straight into a house, leaving a large hole in it. The moment I hit I pulled as hard as I could sideways to try to level with the ground. I took a gamble and dashed straight for Mint, still going at almost mach speed.

Mint just looked petrified. The phoenix's wingspan was too large to run out of the range from, so I knew she couldn't do anything. Just as I was a few feet from Mint, a heavy force struck me on the back. I instantly demorphed and crashed into the ground, creating a crater several yards wide and sending up dust clouds 6 feet into the air.

I picked up my sword and got up as quickly as possible. I saw the terrified Mint a few feet in front of me, but between us, Cless stood, standing with his sword in his hand.

I ran forward, then jumped. I held my sword in front, charged with fire, and went almost vertical for several feet. Cless back stepped out of the way.

"Firebrand!"

I threw the flaming sword at Cless, sending it spinning towards him.

"Gale Shield!"

Cless dropped his own sword as a burst of wind exploded from it upwards, knocking my sword backwards and downwards in the the ground below me. I dropped and grabbed my sword, as Cless took his up from the ground.

I couldn't use his skills as well as he did, and both of us knew it. This battle would be decided on pure speed and power, because he knew his own skills better and knew how to counter my attacks, or actually, his own attacks. And of course, I had no way of using my magic, with Martel locking up all the mana.

Martel was one thing when she didn't do anything to me, but now she was just being a pain in the ass. I just had to hit Cless hard enough that he couldn't counter it.

"Lightning Bolt!"

Cless ran at me, jumped, and swung his sword, letting out a blade of energy. Suddenly, the sky turned black as an enormous bolt of lightning hit right onto the curved blade which was now right next to me. The force of the blast knocked me to the ground.

"Give up? You haven't touched me yet," he said.

"Cless," I said, now on my knees," I never give up."

Standing up, I focused all my energy together and swung full blast right at Cless. He blocked with his sword, but the swipe sent him flying sideways, right into a building.

"Cless!" said Mint in surprise.

I laughed. Cless hadn't done enough damage to take me down, and now I was ready for him. The tables had turned, and we all knew it.

"Tiger Teeth!"

Cless ran towards me. Right when he was about to run into me, he jumped and slashed upwards with his sword. I tried to jump back to avoid it, but I fell instead. As the second slash of the Tiger Teeth was coming down right at me, I held up my sword to block it. I felt the force of the attack push me down, as the two swords locked.

I slashed with all my might, sending Cless back a few feet. Getting up, I tried again to dash towards him and stab. He blocked with his sword just like the time before, but this time I put more force into me dash, and sent him back towards the building again.

He was still standing, sword at ready. I dashed and used a flurry of spinning jump slashes. Cless could barely block, and was forced back to the building.

"Lightning Bolt!"

I jumped and let out the focus point for the bolt, which hit the side of the building, forcing Cless to jump to the side. A lightning bolt tore through the side of the building, breaking the side's foundation and sending it crashing down. Cless went behind me and slashed, but I jumped, making a full spin and a backwards somersault in midair, landing with me facing towards Cless and the two blades meeting, mine pushing Cless' down. Landing on the ground, I slashed at him, this time him unable to block because his blade was right under mine a split second ago.

Cless fell to avoid the attack, pulling back his sword. He tried to jump back up in a slash, but I met it with another slash, hitting his sword and sending him flying to the side.

"You know, pure power wins battles too. Flashy moves are nice, but when it comes down to it, I'm just a better swordsman," I said.

"You don't even have a soul. What good is skill?" said Cless.

I sneered. Dashing forward, I slashed once more at full strength. This time I veered off to the left, expecting a block. The small opening let me get through my attack, deflecting Cless' sword, which blocked at a sharp angle to my sword, easily gone past with force. The blade continued on forward and sank into his arm, barely half an inch, but it still caused damage.

Mint let out a yell. I slashed again, this time causing Cless to fall back. It was obvious the cut was painful; he lost his focus. Cless got up and slashed at me, but I dodged and struck again, leaving a deeper gash below the original one. Cless flinched, this time grabbing at the wound with his left hand. Blood trickled through his glove, but he eventually released it and stood back up.

"Why don't you just give up now? You're injured, and you know it's only going to get worse from here. What do you say?" I asked.

"You... you know I won't give up," he said back angrily.

I knew he wouldn't indeed. I held my sword up to him, but he swatted it away with his own.

"Hm... I know how to get to you. Cless... I know how to hurt you. Fighting really does mean nothing. Martel may as well as have a point, but hell, I won't stop killing. Anyways..." I said.

I knew what to do to get to Cless. I turned around, looking at Mint. I slowly walked towards her.

"No! Don't touch her!"

He ran towards Mint. Going between the two of us, he stopped, holding up his sword, ready to strike even with an injured arm. I jumped over him and grabbed Mint, holding my sword up to her neck. He dropped his sword, with a worried look.

"Please," he pleaded, "Don't hurt her. Take me."

Suddenly, I was thrown into as much shock as he was. A myriad of things floated through my head, that recurring dream yelling. Yelling, yelling, and yelling. It rang through my head. This was it. This was the scene I dreamed about. What was it, though? Was it a sign? Was it a warning? I had that dream for a reason.

Deja vu flooded through me. I didn't know what to do, yet I did what I knew I would do.

"I will take you both," I said. Strange, I never tried to speak those words, I just knew it. More memories, the scene was driving me crazy. Voices rushing through my head, and I couldn't control myself one bit. I raised my sword up to Cless now.

"You're evil. Damn you. Damn you!" he said.

I regained control of myself. The voices were still plaguing me, horrible voices. The memory was playing over thousands of times in a single second, and I knew by instinct there was only 1 way to stop it. I thrust the blade into Cless' chest and pulled it out, hearing a scream from behind me, as blood poured out. Cless fell to the ground, bleeding heavily, and lay there. Cless was now gone, and I had done it. His eyes had closed for the last time.

From behind me, Mint suddenly changed. I could sense somehow that she knew what was going to happen, and she was finally accepting it. Whether it was Martel twisting this whole scene into some kind of horribly wicked dream or her just realizing that Cless was really gone, I will never know. I just know what followed was not something unexpected, and the voices continued plaguing my brain. I wanted to scream in agony but couldn't; I still couldn't control myself.

"I know what lay ahead for me. My life will end, but that is not end for me. I cannot say the same for you, however. A plagued soul does not rest, and sooner or later, you shall be no more on this earth. Did you ever consider that?" she said.

I felt more evil surge through me. I couldn't do anything; this wasn't right. Martel was doing this to me, and I couldn't doubt her powers any more. I would never again cross the path of Martel; I finally realized her immense power. Inside, I pleaded for Martel's forgiveness, but I knew it wasn't done.

"You talk of saving me when you're the one who is about to lose their life? You are quite pathetic," I said.

I knew something was coming. I felt the voices, the memories, increase in volume. I felt like I was going to explode from all the tension, yet I knew my real body felt nothing. How could I have known Martel could torture me like this? How could I have known that Martel was not to be trifled with? How could I have been so selfish as to disrespect a god? The next phrase, I knew it, the next phrase was going to unlock me from this. It had to...

"Pathetic? Am I? You can say all you want, and do all you want, but there is one thing you cannot erase. Whatever happens..." she said.

And no, it didn't do it. I was still in torture. I felt all of Cless' blood on me; I felt the real world, but I couldn't stop the voices. There was something more, something else had to be done. The darkest hour had to end, and it had to end NOW. But... I couldn't. I couldn't hurt Mint, and again I knew it was Martel continuing to torture me.

"Whatever happens," she said, a tear dropping from her eyes, "yume... wa... owaranai. It means that the dream will not die, and it won't. The dream can not die. Our legacy has been written down in history, and though I know that the rest of the heroes of time have dies, and I will soon follow, our legacy shall never be erased from the earth. As long as there is hope, our reach, Martel's reach, it will never cease to exist. You can kill me, but deep inside I know you have accomplished nothing."

Voices. So many voices, and Mint's words ringing through my head at what seemed like hundreds of decibel. I knew it was time to end this. With a yell I thrust my sword full force through Mint's chest. I saw her eyes close, her head fling back, her hand open and drop her staff. I pulled the sword out, and watched as Mint grabbed her chest, staring down in shock. She closed her eyes and fell to her knees. Then, she limped over as blood dribbled down her chin. She fell to the ground, robes covered in blood. Mint was dead. It was finally over. But... the voices continued to an almost exploding point.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHH!" I yelled, flinging my arms back in torture. I yelled as loud as I could, falling to my knees, yelling, trying to drown out the noise. Screaming in agony, writhing in pain. Suddenly... nothing. I fell down. The darkest hour was finally over. That godforsaken quest had been completed, and I had achieved nothing. Nothing at all, but my own torture. I closed my eyes. I closed my eyes.

"Wake up. It's alright now," said a woman's voice.

I awoke. Slowly, darkness, everything, it was all gone. I was laying in the grass near the woods.

"Martel? Martel? What happened? Why did you do it? Why did you torture me? Please, tell me," I said in sorrow.

I heard nothing but the wind. The darkest hour was over, and this was all I had left. It was finally over.


	8. Chapter 6

The Darkest Hour

By Ultima66

Chapter 6

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Each of us was put on this earth for some reason, and everyone's goal is always to find that true purpose.

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"It'll be alright. It's over now."

I heard a voice drift off. My eyes were still closed. I told myself this wasn't real, that it was all an illusion, that I still had a purpose. I raced through my brain, digging through all I had done.

I found nothing. Lying there, I lost my grip on life. Was it really over? Was the job really done? I was unsure. Mint was right, I erased nothing, I accomplished nothing, and I was left here, left for dead. No one was there anymore, no one to care. No one there, I was lost.

"Martel, come take me. I am sorry for everything I said, everything I did. MARTEL! DON'T TORTURE ME ANY LONGER! PLEASE!"

Thanks to her, I was finally human. But what came of that is not what I wanted. I felt pain: more pain than I have ever felt in my life. It wracked my soul, tore me apart from the inside. I was guilty, I was guilty, I was guilty.

"I can't hurt anyone... ever again. Mint, I owe this to you."

I picked up my sword, walked towards the village. As I knew, Martel had planned this, the villagers still were not here. I saw a deep red stain in the ground from far away. I knew that was what I was looking for.

Walking up to it, I saw her: Mint's body, covered in blood, dead and lifeless, her face pale and gaunt. I held my empty hand up to my chest. I closed my eyes and thought.

"Mint, you taught me a lesson that means more to me than anything, and I repaid you by your death. Please, I apologize, and I hope you accept."

I put my sword down and embraced her, my eyes still closed. Small amounts of blood dripped on me, but I didn't care. I put my head over her shoulder and cried. For the first time ever, I cried.

How long, I do not know. Perhaps it was a few minutes, perhaps it was an hour. Tears poured out, mingling with dry blood all over her body. I finally let go, the lifeless body dropping to the ground. I left my sword there next to her, a sign of respect, and a sign that I was not going to hurt another being ever again.

I looked around. Cless' body was nearby, and I knew that he would have wanted to be with Mint in death. I walked over to him, tears still on my face, and held him up, setting him gently next to Mint. I had to leave this place; there was nothing left here for me to do. I had righted some of my wrongs, and that was finally the task that I was inclined to do that didn't involve murder of an innocent individual.

Looking around the houses, I found a knife, sheathed, left out on a table. I looked at the intricate patterns. It was a good knife, and looking around the room, I knew who it belonged to. This was Chester's hunting knife. Everything I saw, everything I did... it all brought painful memories to me.

I knew what must be done. I knew there was only 1 way to right all the wrongs I had committed. I wandered around, wandered around the mountains, forests, plains. I had to get away from everything. Everywhere I went there were more and more memories of my evil. I had finally found the good buried deep inside me, but at what price? Were 6 lives really the price of self-discovery? Was it worth losing 6 of the greatest people that ever lived just to lose the one they saved? It just wasn't right, but what was right anymore?

I wandered for a long time. I knew the time would finally come, and I knew that time was now. As I took out Chester's beautiful knife and held it up to my chest I said a final three words.

"Yume... wa... owaranai..."

And that was it. My death. What should have happened a long time ago finally happened. It was horrible, and I felt pain beyond belief, but it felt right. For once in my life something felt right, and that's all I ever wanted.

And then, I floated away. That was my tale. That was the darkest hour. My life had ended, and that was all. I felt sad, but fulfilled. I felt like my heart was going to explode, and I felt like breaking down and crying as I did over Mint's shoulder, but I couldn't.

It was then that I heard a voice: the voice of a young woman, just like when I got up from after Mint's death.

"It had been... far too long. Welcome back."

"What? Who is it?" I said, "What's going on?"

Everything faded. Suddenly, the world appeared around me again. I was back in the forest, next to Yggdrasil. I held my hands up to my chest. No blood. What was going on? I was dead; this wasn't happening. There was no way I could be still alive.

Martel appeared in front of me. She had a faint smile, but she had no more anger left in her eyes.

"Do you know who you are? Do you know who you REALLY are?"

"Look, I'm sorry for all that I've done. You should have killed me long ago, and I don't blame you for wanting to torture me like this, but please... have mercy, Martel. I'm begging for it."

"Get up. I want you to know something," said Martel, "Young one, I created you. You were my son a long time ago. Your name was Akar, and you were to be the one that guarded the tree alongside me against people that were willing to hurt the mana supply of this world. Akar, you were made by me so long ago..."

"WHAT?" I yelled, not believing at all what I just heard, "There is NO WAY I was made by you. I am evil, and only you could change that. I could not have guarded the tree, I am not worthy. Please, Martel, don't tell me lies."

"It's not a lie. Around the time Dhaos arrived, he met with me to talk about his homeworld. I felt that the energy needed to help him may leave my great tree prone to attack, and we both used our energy to forge you, who we thought would protect the tree when we knew I couldn't. Dhaos was trapped away by the original heroes, and it seemed things couldn't be coming along worse for our bond. You began to question why you were around. Nothing was accomplished, and you grew restless.

"Then the day came when Dhaos was released. The ritual that released him both caused him to reign again and to become evil, and when the soldier that released him was killed by Dhaos, a spark found it's way to you. That spark manifested itself in you and eventually created a whole new being, bent on avenging Dhaos by killing his enemies. Does this sound more familiar now?"

"So... all those deaths..." I said, "Were because I wanted to avenge Dhaos? But he was evil. How could you trust him?"

"You shouldn't judge, Akar. Dhaos was as much of a great leader as I am. We both had the same goal. He was just so much more desperate for mana to save his planet than I was that he took action, and I sadly didn't," said Martel, "It made it easy for Dhaos to have the strength to challenge everyone. Remember, Dhaos is one of the main reasons I am alive today. If he didn't stop the mana cannon in Midgard, I would have been killed by the drain of mana. I would have died, and left you there, free to continue what you did. Do you understand why Dhaos means so much to me now? Why do you think I made his body into a mana seed to nourish and care for his entire planet?"

"Mother Martel... I'm just so confused..." I said. The words brought a smile to her face, as she knew I saw her in a new light now.

"That's not the first time I've heard those words from you," she said, "Do you know of a certain letter you left behind in the valley after Arche's death?"

"No, why?"

"It proves that you really are my creation, and you really do need my guidance. Here it is," she said, handing me the piece of paper. I read it over.

_Half my quest has finally come to an end. Half, an indefinite amount. It is as large as the infinite reaches of space and time, or it may be as small as almost nothing. Half, so indecisive, such a poor term. Yes somehow it portrays this perfectly, but I feel it brings all too much light into this situation._

_Three lives. Three lives taken at my blade, three souls gone because of me. I feel the force pushing me. I feel it. Three more lives will soon follow, and I know they will be at my cause. Such sadness, but what can I do? What can I do? Half of my quest is done, and with a half the other is sure to follow._

_But still, I feel the chilling darkness inside me. Darkness that I can't control, darkness that knows no bounds. I have nothing any more. No more emotion, no more feeling, just emptiness. I only have that deep emptiness and chaos that fills my hollow shell of a soul, if you can call it a soul. I have nothing left, and the only warmth I ever feel now is from the blood of the ones I kill. Suzu, Klarth, and Arche... I can't believe the lives that have been taken. I have no more hope, no more hope at all._

_I pray to you, Mother Martel. For you I have all the repentance in the world. Martel, please protect them, the ones that I know I am destined to take. Please, Martel. Please stop me, stop that dark force in me, the one that drives at me endlessly to push me on to complete my quest. Martel! Please free me from my horrible fate! Only you can help me Martel, only you._

_Please, I know that it is coming back. My corruption is coming back. I must spend what little time I have left to let you know this, Martel. What little time I have left awake, my consciousness not robbed by the grasp of my evil. I must let you know, Martel, what you must do to help me. This is far too much for me, and you are the only one who can help. Martel, please do what I bet of you, please. You know I need you, and I am running out of time. My dark embrace will come back, and I know that you must do something about it._

_Martel, I must part now. I know not of what you can do, and even less of what you will do, but my dark, dreary sonata must finally finish. It must be fulfilled, and only you can decide how it will be. Martel, I ask, no, I beg of you to please do this. To stop me from doing what I must. Martel, you're the only one left for me. The only one who cares about me anymore. I hope that these are not the final words I say worth of any mention, but as you know, I cannot determine that. Goodbye, Martel. Goodbye. I hope that you will someday learn of this, but until then, all I can do is dream, and that is what I will do. So as it is, until you answer my call, I bid you adieu._

I could barely speak. I looking down, turning up a little, looking back down and closing my eyes, I said what came first to my mind.

"Why didn't you stop me? Why did you let them die?" I asked.

"You had to be freed. I could not have done anything to you except for make you learn the right way. If I had done anything to you, I would have lost you. Akar, my dear, I wanted you to stay here, by my side," she said, "It may or may not have been a good choice. I do not know. All I know is that I have you back now."

"You shouldn't have. You know what I can do to people. I don't want to go back to that. I CAN'T go back to that. Martel, I'm scared. I don't want to cause any more hurt to anyone, especially not you. If anything happens, I know you won't try to stop me, and I can't let that happen."

"Akar, you are safe now. Dhaos' spark has left, and you are no longer the vengeful self you once were. You can live in peace now."

"Peace? What peace? The world has lost those that I killed. I can't rest easy with so much damage. Martel, I can't see all this pain and destruction anymore. I just can't. Martel, I don't want to live with you. I just wish everything was right..."

"So you don't understand what I'm asking..." Martel smiled. She expected this reaction from me, and I knew it.

I looked up.

"Martel, I can't do this. I don't want this world anymore. I have to move on."

"That's what I'm saying," said Martel, "You won't have to be in this world. You can change it all. You can be the one that stands by my side as we work to preserve order in this world. Do you want that, Akar? I know you do. You may have done much wrong, and I know you want to fix it."

I was almost shocked at the proposition. I knew she might ask me to do something like this, but it was nowhere near what I expected, somehow. I could barely even comprehend the fact that I was a being, a being with a name created by Martel herself. I couldn't do it, but I knew I must. I was being accepted as a protector of this world, the same world that I had ravaged.

"Martel, this doesn't seem right for me. Not at all. I don't feel right defending a world which I plagued for so long."

"But it's your destiny. You have no other choice, Akar. Be happy; there's no reason not to be."

"But what if I fail, Martel? How do you know I can be trusted? I might just go back to being corrupted, and then I'd be better off dead."

"So are you saying that I'm wrong? You think that I might not be correct, and that I can't trust you. But Akar, I'm your creator, and I know you well enough to know nothing will happen. The first time, Dhaos had to be sealed away. I didn't plan on it, but I did realize that if that hadn't happened, I'd be gone, so it worked out, and you gained Dhaos' spark. His spark now lies at rest, and there is nothing more for you to do to avenge him. Dhaos himself lies at rest on his own planet, supplying the world with the mana needed to survive. You won't turn evil again."

"As much as I want to believe you, Martel, I don't think I can. Why can't I just leave all of this behind me? I want to rest in peace."

"You are and have always been an immortal. There is no rest for you. I'm sorry but you are bound to help this world for eternity. Akar, come with me, I will show you the way. I will show you all that you missed in your life of vengeance, and all that awaits you."

"And you expect it just to work out? Martel, how can you think everything to go the way you plan?"

I wanted to just run. I didn't want to have anything to do with this world Martel was creating. Plans like this never succeeded entirely. Dhaos' plan only led to chaos and destruction, and ending in Dhaos himself getting killed. It seemed the better a world is, the more disaster befalls it. There was no point in helping Martel to me, since I knew more bad would happen than I could help, and a utopia that Martel envisioned would never happen, but I knew she felt unity between us that I didn't feel. She was just happy that I was no longer evil, while I was still confused and unsure of what to do next. I felt obligated to listen to her, but to not cause any more harm. Though I felt that leaving all of this alone was the best way to go, I knew Martel would not allow me to give up on her and just walk away.

"I know," she said, "I know that no matter what happens, that we can always overcome adversity. I know that you were meant to protect Yggdrasil from the moment you were created. Akar, please listen to me."

"Alright," I said, "I doubt I have much other choice, or anything to do that doesn't involve protecting this world. Let's see what my destiny was from the moment I was created."

"As you wish then," she said.

Martel held her arm out towards me. A column of light descended from the sky, enveloping me. My body lifted up into the sky, as I glowed with light. Shining armor appeared on me, and a beautiful sword materialized in my hand- a long but light saber, thin and quick but powerful. As I landed back on the ground, I faced Martel and smiled.

"Thank you, Martel. You won't regret creating me as a guardian of the tree. I will do my best."

Martel smiled as we walked into the forest, side by side. The darkest hour was completely over with, and we could all just get on with our lives. It was... just what I wanted. Utopia at last, at least for the moment being. We vanished in a pillar of light, forever bound as guardians. They say if you overcome your troubles, you will be a greater person. With that in mind, I knew Yggdrasil was in good hands. One chapter of my life was over, but another had just begun.


End file.
